The story revolves around a journalist Steve Everett (Clint Eastwood) whose only desire of life is women and drinks. He has been given the responsibility of covering the case of Frank Louis Beechum (Isaiah Washington) who has been convicted for murder. Steve realizes that Frank is innocent and wants to save him however the problem is that very less time is left for his life sentence. At the same time Steve’s boss Bob Findley (Denis Leary) is not at all happy with him as he is having an affair with his wife. Bob just want to get rid of Steve. So Steve has to work on both the fronts, one is to prove Frank innocent in very less time and other is to save his professional career which is not going quite smooth because of his reputation of having so many affairs. The only hope in Steve’s life is his chief in Editor Alan Mann (James woods) who still believes in him.